Squinch

A viral video suggested how to look better in photos ...

When:

Why:

A portrait photographer's advice on how to look more photogenic, by squinching, became a viral video.

In the video, Peter Hurley states that squinch is a new word, formed by combining "squint" and "pinch," that refers to narrowing "the distance between your lower eyelid and your pupil."

As many people discovered, squinch does appear in Merriam-Webster and dates back to 1835. However, the dictionary defines squinch simply as a synonym of squint. And squinting, Hurley warns, is not what you want to do.

Will Hurley's new definition be added to the dictionary? It all depends on whether this new meaning becomes widely used over time. (We can't predict whether or not that will happen, even as we try to squinch into the future.)